Clements had some trouble on the mat, but he had the clear edge in the standup department and took a split-decision victory.

The fight was part of tonight’s UFC 145 event at Atlanta’s Phillips Arena. The preliminary-card bout streamed on Facebook prior to additional prelims on FX and the pay-per-view main card.

While Clements got the win, both fighters showed impressive resiliency.

After an early takedown, Wisniewski moved to side control and then quickly into mount. An elbow opened a facial cut on Clements, who rolled and then pulled his opponent back into half guard. After a premature standup from the ref, Clements landed some blows, including a stiff combo that bloodied his opponent. A spinning back kick to the ribs dropped Wisniewski, but he slowed the attack with a triangle-choke attempt soon before the action-packed first round ended.

The fighters opened with a firefight early in the second round before Wisniewski scored a trip-takedown and landed in side control. He delivered punches while trying to improve his position, but Clements soon returned to his feet and headhunted with some heavy punches. But after Clements clinched, Wisniewski took him to the mat, moved to his back, and locked in a rear-naked choke. Clements floundered and eventually wiggled free of the choke, and after looking at the screen so he could see his opponent, he unloaded a quick series of backward elbow strikes that did damage to Wisniewski.

In the final frame, Wisniewski ate some knees once clinched and failed to get the takedown. Once they separated, though, Clements landed some big punches and a spinning back kick. Wisniewski, though, simply ate the punches and returned fire. However, Clements finished strong with elbow strikes to the head and punches to the body. Wisniewski was dazed and dropped in the final minute of the fight but survived for the horn.

It was a grueling affair, but Clements got the win via 29-28, 28-29, 30-27 scores.

“I play with each person’s movement,” he said. “I don’t do preconceived combinations. I also don’t have a formula going in. I play it based on what I see.

“I feel good about this win, and I want to be on the Toronto card (UFC 154 on Nov. 17) if possible. I have a big family and would love to fight in front of everyone back home. I’m sure they’re happy with how things went tonight.”

Clements (11-4 MMA, 1-0 UFC), a veteran of the Canadian regional circuit, extends his win streak to five fights while Clements (28-14-1 MMA, 0-2 UFC) drops his second straight in the UFC following an octagon-debut loss to Josh Neer.

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